romeo and juliet

Love and Hate in One


William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet convey many themes that deal with human strengths and weaknesses. Two such themes that are evident throughout the play are love and hate. Love and hate appear to be twins of the same mother, who were separated at birth. They are very different in action, but are of the same element. This ambiguity is sustained throughout the entire play. One such rhetoric that Shakespeare uses to highlight the ambiguity of love and hate is oxymoron, for example, “O brawling love, O loving hate”(I.1.164). Shakespeare’s weaves love and hate together to simultaneously highlights their similarities, although they are very contradictory. On one hand his two leading characters Romeo and Juliet, epitomize unconditional love, which results in their death. On the other hand, the families which are the Montague’s and the Capulet’s who are the embodiment of hate survive at the end of the play. Nevertheless, the audience is overwhelmed by...